MotorCraft Filters

[Triton_330]

I just went to pick up a filter and had to laugh at the totally backwards size differences of MC filters for a 96 Explorer. If you look in the book provided (yes, I live in a pretty country/hick county and Walmart still uses that book instead of a little computer) for the filter on a 96 Explorer (and I'd assume this'd be the same way for many other vehicles) the filter for a 4.0 v6 is actually bigger than the one for the 5.0 v8... LOL! Why is it this way, I don't get it? (btw, it's the FL1-A for the v6 and the FL-820-S for the v8)

 

[NHGUY]

FL1a is fractional thread,FL820s is metric.

 

[Triton_330]

Right, I get the thread difference, but why is the filter bigger for the v6 than for the v8?

 

[Red91]

My guess is that the longer filter won't fit between the engine and the frame.

 

[TFB1]

Physical considerations are usually the reason for size of filter, for instance is '88 Thunderbird that had three engines and all used a different filter even though the gasket and threads are same on all...

The 5.0 V8 used FL-1, while the 3.8 V6 used a FL-400A, approx same length as FL-1 but smaller in diameter... The Turbo 2.3 used a FL-300 that's short version of FL-1... I've seen FL-400A on the 2.3 but it's real close... Any of the three can be used on the 5.0...

 

[Roadkingnc]

The 4.0l also used the fl-820 after the fl-1a

 

[HM12460]

I just love Motorcraft filters, all of 'em!